Minister’s plan to spot-test drivers ‘nonsensical’

Another opportunity for corrupt cops to extract ’cooldrink’ money, say critics of new proposal

A CALL by Transport Minister Dipuo Peters for traffic officers to randomly pull over motorists and conduct impromptu driving tests has been labelled nonsensical, unenforceable and open to corruption.

Peters, speaking at the release of the Easter weekend road accident statistics on Wednesday, said such tests were needed to ensure that all drivers had the necessary skills to drive safely on South African roads.

The government was in talks, she said, to enforce a system in terms of which metro police could stop motorists and retest their driving on the spot.

More than 280 people were killed across the country over the Easter long weekend, according to figures provided by Peters’s department.

This was a significant increase on the 193 deaths in the same period last year.

AA spokesman Marius Luyt dismissed the impromptu testing plan as “nice words” about something that would be difficult to enforce.

Instead, Luyt said, the government needed to push through the much-delayed Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act and the associated points demerit system (see accompanying story).

Howard Dembovsky, chairman of the Justice Project South Africa, was far more critical. He said the proposal was so open to corruption — and so few of South Africa’s traffic police were qualified to perform driving tests — that Peters’s call was “nonsensical”.

“A very small proportion of South African traffic cops are qualified driving examiners.

“Having the blind examine the blind is a stupid idea.

“The only person that can perform a test is someone who is qualified as a driving licence examiner. That person doesn’t necessarily have to be a traffic officer, and a traffic officer is not automatically a driving examiner.

“[This is a] kneejerk reaction on an emotional issue,” he said.

Dembovsky added that officers would very easily be able to manipulate the system for personal gain.

“The first thing that will happen when a traffic officer gets that kind of power, they’re going to say, ‘If you don’t pay me, I’m going to examine you and fail you,’ ” he said.

The latest road accident statistics show that:

Pedestrians and single vehicles that overturned made up more than 61% of the total number of crashes over the Easter period;

Collisions with fixed objects made up 12% of the total number of crashes;

More than 800 people were arrested for drunk driving, 48 for dangerous or negligent driving, and three for overloading; and

Fifty-one people were arrested for “false documentation”.

Department of Transport spokesman Ishmael Mnisi defended the minister’s proposal, saying: “The National Road Traffic Act provides for continuous assessment of drivers.

“We are not passing new legislation, just effectively utilising existing legislation to ensure that drivers are assessed and checked.

“The Road Traffic Management Corporation will look at mechanisms to govern how the tests will be done.”

Mnisi said the checks would be done only by officials who were qualified.

If a driver is pulled over by an officer who is qualified as a registered driving inspector, then a test can be done on the spot.

“If they want to do the test on the road, on the spot, they can do so and give reasons for that.

“A driver’s licence is state property. You can get awarded one, but it can also be revoked,” he said.

The Road Traffic Management Corporation has backed Peters’s plan.

“We believe that the enforcement of this provision will ensure that incompetent drivers or those who obtained licences fraudulently are removed from the roads,” said spokesman Simon Zwane.